I don’t know anyone IRL I can explain this to, or discuss this with
Played Dark Souls for a little, but not much. Elden Ring, I beat and loved.
With Demon’s Souls lately, and this week… I spent no less than 4 days going the wrong. fkn. direction.
Got my little mace, a shield, and a wand for spells (I like being a battle mage, sue me!)
This Maneater boss was beating my ass, so I needed some help.
Found out about a spell I could buy if I could save a witch. So, I went to that level and headed for where I thought the witch was, but I had the world tendency of black, so the game was so much harder and I couldn’t get past these double-spawning black phantom fat officials.
So, I needed some help. Didn’t even understand world tendency, had to Google that a couple times Found out about a way to reset neutral in the first act, if I got rid of some executioner lady. I go back, but she wasn’t there. Needed pure black world tendency, I guess. I go get my little stone to resurrect my body, got killed and then cheesed the executioner by accident because she fell into a pit after she spawned.
Okay, reset to neutral. Go back to area, past where the black phantom fat officials were, and fought my way to a fog door. Where was the witch?? Oh. Oh no.
I had to open a door, behind me the whole time to get a key for a gate nearby the spawn where I’d start each run, for the past four days. Before resetting my world tendency. AND I already had the dang key.
Okay. Pop myself in, get the next key, rescue some joe schmo?? Find out where the witch actually is, through a gate and up some stairs. Well, I’ve already had the dang disguise to get the guy to drop the stairs and could’ve rescued her so easy.
Got her, got the spell. But… Needed another memory slot, so I grind out 3 levels for 18+ INT and can now cast a big fire storm, thinking minimal damage. The spell destroys everything, and it’s fkn awesome.
I take that spell and go burn the man-eater boss dudes with ease in my second try, after fighting a black phantom mind flayer on some stairs and getting my ass kicked 4 times.
Man-eater dead, I can finally move on.
I now understand why folks said Elden Ring was so easy. Still, climbing castles and whipping spells and smackin’ heads with a mace is so freakin’ satisfying. I bought Dark Souls 1 & 2 on sale and I’m so excited to play them. Getting lost and back tracking and figuring out NPC quests, giving up on all that and googling just to find out it’s even easier than I thought or waaayyyyy more confusing is part of the fun. But a mace and an epic spell is all I need, IRL.
I fkn LOVE fromsoft.
“Wrong direction” sums up my anger towards everything FromSoft.
Two Soulslike games I really enjoyed though, are Tunic, and Another Crab’s Treasure. Both are generally pretty rewarding of exploration, but also tightly guide you at the beginning. I honestly just don’t feel like FromSoft is very fair when it comes to early exploration. One path utterly destroys you and has no reward at the end.
Tunic is super cute! I haven’t played the crab one, but I’ve seen vids. Maybe one day I’ll pick it up.
As for your point, that’s part of the fun for me (as outlined in the post). When I played Diablo and Diablo II as a kid, I’d always have to see every inch of the map. In Elden Ring, it was always my goal to explore any corner or dungeon or castle that I could see. The stories are all good and fine, but for me, it’s the escapist dream of being a knight witch that can enter a big castle and completely dominate the occupants. Like a one-person siege machine. And if I can do that while pulling huge spells for area effect, I’m even happier. Just hiking up stone steps, throwing fire tornados or meteors… The dream!
I do wish the spells in every game I’ve played were more epic, ya know? My dream game would be to throw a literal tornado at a castle and have the baddies be smart enough to run for cover instead of getting hit. More of a dynamic sort of fighting but with massive spells. The only critique I have of fromsoft is the stagnant worlds. Just a dude standing in the middle of a courtyard, waiting to get shreked is a little bland. I’d love to see a castle that operates as a castle instead of a bunch of waiting-to-die group of baddies.